Approaching The Finishing Line

The last leg of your financial life can be enriching if you have more time in hand to pursue the hobbies you put on hold, says Preeti Kulkarni.

- Preeti Kulkarni

Retirement is the time when you finally get to do all the things you said you were going to do, whether it’s catching up on reading or travelling or simply putting up your feet on a stool and doing nothing. Yes, all of this is possible if you have got it all planned right in the earlier stages of life. However, life is not that easy and things do not necessarily go as planned for many people. Yet, this is the stage in life when there is little room to navigate the retirement conundrum.

There are many in their 20s, who want to take an early retirement these days. They wish to stop working when they are 50 and some would like to advance that to 45 and even earlier. There is no harm in aiming for an early retirement as long as one realises that we are all going to be living long. Many of us are going to be living a much longer life in retirement simply because of medical advancement. We have said this in the past and are repeating it for those who may have missed out, when planning for an early retirement, one should keep in mind that we will be working lesser number of years but will need the money for much longer.

If one adds the conventional financial needs cycle of a house, car, providing for kids and saving for retirement—it is a big task to think of retiring early. Of course, you may be a lucky one to have setup a start-up, which got bought, leaving you with tons of money to actually live the dream retirement. Delhibased, Archana Dhawan Bajaj, 46, a gynaecologist and obstetrician is looking for a peaceful retired life four years from now and is working hard towards it.